Chris is the head of the MPAA now. He must have promised his Hollywood producer bosses that he could push SOPA through Congress, and he’s pissed:

Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging.

It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.

Calling Wikipedia a “technology business” and its users “corporate pawns” doesn’t quite rise to the level of Chris’ predecessor, Jack Valenti, who famously said “the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.” But give the guy time, he’s only been on the job for a few months. (I’d tell you exactly how long he’s been on the job but Wikipedia is blacked out, so I can’t.)

Chris, like most other pols, is for sale to whoever will pay his bills. Stick a quarter (million) in him and he performs. Need lies? No problem at all for Chris and his kind, lying is a way of life for them.

I’m glad he’s out of Washington D.C. We need more like him in that regard.

Let’s see..the MPAA is pissed with the status quo. These are the poor wittle movie studios who are suffering due to the abuse of power by Wikipedia and such. Their suffering can only be eased by Congress. Yet Dodd wants the parties to “work cooperatively together” so that the MPAA can achieve its every goal.

The MPAA sounds like the Republican Congress. Compromise means letting us get our way.

(I’d tell you exactly how long he’s been on the job but Wikipedia is blacked out, so I can’t.)

I ran up against this a few minutes ago when I wanted to check a fact about who founded AIG because a press release for Walker’s fundraiser hosted by Maurice Greenberg claimed Greenberg founded AIG. What I remembered from dealing with The Starr Foundation, was that Cornelius Vander Starr founded AIG under the name C.V. Starr and Company and that Greenberg was its long time CEO. I was able to pull up enough references in Google itself to confirm that. (The issue as I saw it at The Mahablog was PR flack’s laziness in not checking out AIG history.)

Abso-fucking-lutely. For the head of the MPAA to say that is the height of hypocrisy. Those people have spent good money on their politicians. How dare they go straight to the people with their lobbying. That’s not how we do things around here.

@Michael D.: Sure you can but why would you. Wikipedia is educating us all on what’s in the bill. The NYTimes blog showed the same way to circumvent the protest but took time to explain concerns. There’s a great comment by a musician who is opposed to the law because of the wording in it. link

Would appreciate it if you would explain how that particular piece of nonsense would contribute to the solution of the particular problem at hand.

The problem at hand – narrowly understood as the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation – is best dealt with as per Tim F.’s suggestion.

The larger problem of Big Business outsized influence on U.S. politics – manifested in an incentive structure that make individual politicians, like Chris Dodd, carry water for business interests – is best dealt with by a) putting better people on SCOTUS, and b) pressuring congress to change the law.

I’m pointing to the best long term strategy to permanently rid us of the perverse incentives that keep giving us politicians like Dodd.

It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power …

Wait. Let’s get this straight. Former Senator Dodd wants Congress to pass legislation that forces the government to treat as guilty, with little to no chance to prove themselves innocent, anyone the entertainment industry accuses of any copyright infringement — fair use be damned — and has the fucking gall to accuse the non-profit Wikipedia of abusing corporate power?

Chris Dodd, let me be one of many to tell you to go fuck yourself with a thousand virus-infected sharp needles.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Dodd says he still doesn’t know what he’ll do come January 2011, when, for the first time in 36 years, he will no longer be a member of Congress. But he has ruled out one option.

“No lobbying, no lobbying,” Dodd said in a recent interview. That Dodd would forgo a trip through Washington’s “revolving door,” using his policy and political expertise–and a thick Rolodex–to launch a new career in the influence industry, may come as a surprise.

Sadly, this is the inevitable result of Empire. Power and money are so great, so towering, that most folks will sell out anything in order to grab a slice. And the folks in power and with the money know this, and wield all the influence they can in order to remain so.

“No lobbying, no lobbying,” Dodd said in a recent interview. That Dodd would forgo a trip through Washington’s “revolving door,” using his policy and political expertise–and a thick Rolodex–to launch a new career in the influence industry, may come as a surprise.

@JGabriel:
technically he is not a lobbyist, he is the CEO of MPAA. Thats the problem when you try to legislate basic human decency, honesty and integrity there are always some smart guys who will figure out a way around the law.

The 1%ers love this bill too, not just Hollywood. The right took over radio, TV, cable, newspapers, and billboards. They need to control every single method of distributing information or they can’t keep getting people to vote for their own serfdom.

I’m pointing to the best long term strategy to permanently rid us of the perverse incentives that keep giving us politicians like Dodd.

Well, sure, but corporate personhood isn’t what creates those incentives. There are other issues with it, but not this. Even without it, all of the financial incentives remain the same. Some people will still make money off of IP, and they will still make contributions to politicians. They will even still form groups to lobby Congress.

Less than a footnote really to this matter, but the reason that Chris Dodd is now Hollywood’s chief peddler is that Bob Kerrey, former Nebraska senator and rumored as a possible candidate for Ben Nelson’s seat, was unable to agree to a contract with MPAA’s board. (It had to do with perquisites, not anti-lobbying principles.)

Quick summary: Having alienated the faculty, staff, and student body of the New School University and achieving only modest success as a fundraising “rainmaker” while serving as the university’s president, Bob Kerrey was looking for a new job in early 2010. Despite having no experience in the motion picture/television industry (nor for that matter in higher education) and despite being out of Congress and Washington for a decade, Kerrey was selected was by the MPAA board to be its new CEO. Announcements were made. But to everyone’s embarrassment, contract negotiations foundered.

Fortunately for them, the newly-unemployed Chris Dodd was eager to hawk the less glamorous wares of the dream factory’s merchants.

And Kerrey may yet return to the Washington kennel with the other Blue Dogs.

Sadly, this is the inevitable result of Empire. Power and money are so great, so towering, that most folks will sell out anything in order to grab a slice. And the folks in power and with the money know this, and wield all the influence they can in order to remain so.

The Internet has brought a spotlight, an almost instantaneous focus on what, and how these assholes work. I would want it hobbled too, if I were them.

I’m in the bizarre position of having my Neanderthal Wingnut Congressman being better on this issue than either of my two Senators. It’s so strange to think that writing to or calling Royce might make a difference.

I’ll get to Royce later. First, I need to figure out a polite and non-profane way to ask Boxer and Feinstein if they are out of their fucking minds.

Heh, so much fashionable hate for the former limousine hero-liberal. In short course, you will all be speaking truth to power about Blarney Frank and lapping up some third-string Kennedy no one has ever heard about.

How is it any different from all those moronic libertarians who threaten to go Galt?

Because Wikipedia is providing something of great value that easily could be destroyed by the legislation they’re proposing, as opposed to nothing of value that won’t be hurt much by the stuff the Galtian Geniuses are bitching about?

Because Wikipedia is providing something of great value that easily could be destroyed by the legislation they’re proposing, as opposed to nothing of value that won’t be hurt much by the stuff the Galtian Geniuses are bitching about?

And wasn’t Atlas Shrugged roundly mocked for who unrealistic that whole idea was?

I’m in the bizarre position of having my Neanderthal Wingnut Congressman being better on this issue than either of my two Senators. It’s so strange to think that writing to or calling Royce might make a difference.

@burnspbesq: Darrell Fucking Issa, the douche one district up from me, who has been an asshat his entire career is fighting the good fight on this. I’m having some very confused feelings about him at the moment.

Feinstein is a total loss on this, but I expected that from California’s Republican Senator™. Boxer is also a total loss on this, I kinda expected that too but hoped she’d see the light. Oh well.

Tis hold-your-nose time. Hakeem Nicks is a gaddam Tarhole, but as long as he’s a Giant I can hold my nose and cheer for him. Once he leaves the Giants, he’ll be just another gaddam Tarhole, and I will root for a meteorite to strike him. Same deal with Issa.

The greatest users of Wikipedia are high school students, who in general are not aware of this at all.

I doubt that. Kids hack, pirate, and post copyrighted photos on their blogs, etc., without permission, all the time. I’m sure a fairly large percentage — say 30-40%, just to pull a number range outta my ass — knew about PIPA/SOPA even before today’s blackout.

Of course, there’s still a lot of people who are hearing about it for the first time today, due to the various blackouts. So I’m sure they are having some effect.

Darrell Fucking Issa, the douche one district up from me, who has been an asshat his entire career is fighting the good fight on this. I’m having some very confused feelings about him at the moment.

If it’s any consolation, he’s only fighting because it lets him tout himself as standing up against the eeeeevil warpers of children’s minds in Hollywood, not because he actually believes in internet freedom.

Not that I’ll reject his help, but I’ll stay clear on what his motive is for taking the side that he has.

@Sentient Puddle: I think this is just wrong. Wikipedia is used by “internet users” at large, not just the people in the know. And of course they aren’t the only ones doing something. Google isn’t “dark” in the same way Wikipedia is but they have something up as well.

And wasn’t Atlas Shrugged roundly mocked for who unrealistic that whole idea was?

Not that alone. There’s also the poor writing, the one-dimensional characters, the rape fantasies, the appalling dialogue, the ethical cluelessness, and the advocacy of greed and evil in general that are all roundly mocked too.

The Great Orange Satan had the best piece I have seen today, from a film worker in Hollywood who opposes SOPA:

[couldn’t make the link work, but it’s Recommended over there…]
Confessions-Of-A-Hollywood-Professional:-Why-I-Cant-Support-the-Stop-Online-Piracy-Act

Quote:

THE DIVIDE OVER SOPA/PIPA ISN’T POLITICAL – IT’S BETWEEN THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE INTERNET AND THOSE WHO DON’T

What do Darrell Issa, Nancy Pelosi, the ACLU, Daily Kos, RedState.com, Markos Moulitsas and Ron Paul have in common? They all oppose SOPA/PIPA. Personally, I’ve never agreed with Darrel Issa on any issue ever, but I agree with him on this.

And wasn’t Atlas Shrugged roundly mocked for who unrealistic that whole idea was?

No, or at least not primarily for that. It’s mocked for the idea that a few great creators at the top are the ones responsible for all the good stuff, so that a loss of a few creative geniuses would wreck everything. When we mock Atlas Shrugged and Going Galt, we’re mocking the idea that we’ll really miss a few rich bastards who decide to withhold their productivity. ETA: We’re also mocking the people who are threatening to Go Galt for believing that they’re genius creators, when they’re mostly people who push money around for a living or work in other highly paid but non-creative work.

If anything, Wikipedia is great evidence of how absolutely wrong the Atlas Shrugged viewpoint is. It’s a fantastically useful place that was created primarily from the bottom up. Yes, Jimmy Wales started the place, but the actual content that makes it so useful is crowdsourced. The result of a bunch of ordinary people cooperating is a resource that couldn’t be created by a lone genius in a hundred lifetimes.

Slight correction to myself: there are such things as “wildcat strikes,” which is when the union members go on strike without the approval of the leadership. So, Sentient Puddle, is your argument that only wildcat strikes are legitimate and any strikes called by union leadership are illegitimate?

Yeah, IANAL so maybe the issue of corporate personhood is a red herring.

What I was getting at, though, is that congress having the right to regulate political spending – and using it – is the best way to moderate the incentives that give Big Business way to much influence on U.S. politics.

Unfortunately, Citizens United found that congress right to regulate political spending is severely limited by the First Amendment.

So why not propose an amendment that explicitly gives congress back the right to regulate political spending; gives congress back the right to tweek those incentives we’re talking about through legislation. Next step would be strengthening McCain-Feingold to further lessen corporate ownership of U.S. politics.

Wikipedia isn’t even remotely blacked out. It’s a Javascript re-direct from the home page to the protest page. As noted in the first comment, just hit ESC when the page first loads. Or, if you are using Firefox with the NoScript plugin, you will not even notice — I had to actively grant the page Java permissions in order to see the black page.

So any complaints about whether Wikipedia should or shouldn’t have “gone dark” are completely beside the point — it does indeed seem to be some sort of meta-comment on the futility of online censorship, or a test of basic user knowledge.

Dude was on TV this morning lying his fucking ass off that nobody’s rights will be harmed by SOPA/PIPA. He ought to just go back to his fat assed Irish country estate that Angelo Mozilo helped him buy.

The idea that this is about people who know how the internet works versus those who don’t, isn’t quite entirely true.

I suspect that the recording industry, the villagers and the movie industry know full well how the internet works. They just don’t want little fuckin’ noisy pipsqueks like us using it to voice our opinions, make fair use or derivative works from their stuff, or to read any of their materials located anywhere other than behind an expensive pay wall. You look at the NYT’s subscriber model, the litigation factory that AP just stood up or Righthaven, and you’ll have a pretty good idea at what they’d like to get going.

That they’ll be able to silence any dissent that quotes a primary source from the villager media (or from their own political ads) is just an added benefit.

Kids hack, pirate, and post copyrighted photos on their blogs, etc., without permission, all the time. I’m sure a fairly large percentage — say 30-40%, just to pull a number range outta my ass — knew about PIPA/SOPA even before today’s blackout.

I don’t think the truth of the first sentence necessarily leads to the accuracy of the second.

The Red State link is worth reading. The author is thumping his chest about how True Conservatives were willing to take on their own side’s politicians on this, while he accuses us liberals of “free-riding” on the issue.

Right now it looks like Republican legislators are getting all of the press for backpedalling on previously-expressed support for SOPA/PIPA.

I’ve written multiple times that Internet control issues like this one have the potential to bite the Obama reelection campaign in the ass, hard, with their young voter/digital native support, a demographic which went about 80% for Obama in 2008. Right now I think the GOP is getting the better of the argument for the young voter.

Hypothetical: “Psst, Obama and the record companies are wrecking the Internet, pass it on.”

Kerrey never sealed the deal with the MPAA because he couldn’t be bothered to work himself into fantods pimping their nonsense, which is a job requirement (cf. Dodd, Valenti).

He was decidedly never a Blue Dog. He led the opposition to the flag burning amendment, and he was one of a handful of Senators to vote against DOMA.

I don’t love his entire record, but what are you gonna do? We’re talking about Nebraska. Kerrey is the Democratic Party’s ONLY hope of retaining that seat in a cycle in which Republicans are expected to make gains (wave bye-bye to North Dakota, for starters). But he’s still gauging the temperature and hasn’t committed yet. Do you want us to keep the Senate, or don’t you? Be sure.

I see bloggie posts all over the place confirming my view of the reactions to yesterday’s protests, where Republicans loudly announced retreat from pro-SOPA positions and Democrats mostly hedged:

Republican brand: We stand for Liberty!
Democratic brand: How can we avoid pissing off our Hollywood campaign contributors?

Like I’ve been saying, hypothetically, for some time: “Psst, Obama and the record companies are wrecking the Internet, pass it on.” Say goodbye to the “digital native” vote, say hello to President Romney.